TitleNews Online Archive

TitleNews Online Archive

Armstrong County, Pa. Offers E-recording

April 10, 2014

Armstrong County, Pa., now offers electronic recording of documents through Simplifile.

“There is positive growth in this industry and it is time for our recorder’s office to be a part of the growth,” said Armstrong County’s Recorder of Deeds Marianne Hileman. “Simplifile is our current vendor for our e-recording process, which is where the documents are submitted to and forwarded to our office electronically.”

Document submitters including title companies, banks, legal firms, and other organizations that record documents with the county will now be able to take advantage of the online document recording service through Simplifile, instead of having to use the mail.

According to Hileman, documents are currently sent to her office through USPS, FedEx and UPS, and if the document is rejected for any reason, it must be returned to back to the submitter by mail, which can take a week if not longer before the document is resubmitted.

“With e-recording, a document can be submitted and placed on record immediately,” Hileman said. “If rejected, it will be returned to the submitter and can be returned with corrections within minutes. Original documents never leave the submitters possession, leaving less chance of documents being lost or misplaced. Electronic recording simplifies the process.”

Armstrong County is Pennsylvania’s 28th recording jurisdiction to offer e-recording with Simplifile, joining more than 1,050 recording jurisdictions nationwide that have also adopted the service.

The fourth pillar of ALTA’s ”Title Insurance and Settlement Company Best Practices” addresses recording procedures to ensure compliance with the settlement process. Implementing a tracking mechanism is helpful in providing a record of what documents were sent, when they were sent and method of delivery. The use of e-recording can aid in the implementation and documentation of procedures. The Best Practices Framework includes a set of Assessment Procedures that can be used by title professionals to help lenders decide if a service provider meets different pillars of the Best Practices. A Certification Package also is available and can be used by title professionals to warrant and attest to lenders that they have implemented ALTA’s Best Practices.